The French botanic extracts supplier has had an extraction facility in Morocco since 1992, consisting of a 27,000 square foot facility with six solvent extraction units, giving it a daily capability to extract over 20 tons of raw materials.
Although some other ingredient suppliers are active in Morocco, such as Biolandes, whose activities there are centred around perfumery raw materials, Naturex claims to be the only one focussed on healthy ingredients.
Moreover, Naturex has sourced nine botanicals from the Atlas and Rif mountain regions which have long been used in traditional medicine but are not commonly used in dietary supplements.
For now the company is keeping the precise identity and uses of these plant under wraps, but it will be speaking more about them at the forthcoming tradeshows Supply Side West in Las Vegas and Healthy Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt.
Marketing manager Antoine Dauby did tell NutraIngredients.com that there is scope to combine them with other botanicals - either wild, like rosemary, thyme, hawthorn and chase berry - or cultivated like olive and artichoke.
Dauby said that the company is promoting its Moroccan capabilities to the industry at the present time since it believes it is in a "unique position there".
Over the years, Naturex has developed good relationships with local partners and Berber people who harvest and prepare the herbs, which help it gain access to the best raw materials. For example, said Dauby, wild pomegranate has higher levels of ellagic acid than cultivated pomegranate.
Naturex says that it samples and analyses every delivery of raw material for quality control and guarantees traceability from raw materials to final extracts.
It is also contributing to social programmes in the region in partnership with ACEKKA, which supplies books and equipment to pupils in Moroccan schools.